


The Outsider

by SoxOnFox



Category: The Lion King, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, klance, lion king AU, mentions of Shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-19 07:04:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14869019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoxOnFox/pseuds/SoxOnFox
Summary: Prince Lance is the son of King Shiro and Queen Allura, making him the heir to the throne and the future king of the Pridelands. As a young cub, Prince Lance and his two friends Pidge and Hunk sneak off and decide to explore the Outlands against King Shiro's wishes. While there, Lance meets an Outsider cub by the name of Keith. After being pulled away from each other, the two grow up separately. One day while messing around with his friends, Lance finds Keith wandering around on Pridelands territory and brings him back to Pride Rock. Shiro is not thrilled about having an Outlander join the pride, but he gives Keith one week to prove himself. Will Keith be able to prove himself to King Shiro or will he be forced to become an Outlander once more?Aka the Klance Lion King AU that no one wanted but I wrote anyways.





	1. Welcome to the Outlands

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably the most ambitious writing project I've done in awhile and the first fanfiction I've mad on ao3 so I'm sorry if it's bad. It'll probably start off slow since I had some difficulty with the beginning but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Hey dad!” Lance called playfully, poking the much bigger lion with a paw. He leapt back as his father rolled over with a loud groan, slightly opening his eyes to look at the smaller lion. “Dad, come on get up!”  
  
“Just a little longer,” The lion huffed, closing his eyes once more. “Then we can go out.”  
  
“But you promised we’d go out at sunrise!” Lance whined, leaping onto the bigger lion, pawing at his nose.  
  
“He’s not wrong, Shiro.” The lion next to him yawned and sat up, flicking her tail to hit Shiro on the shoulder. “You _did_ say that you’d take him out at sunrise.”  
  
“Fine, fine…” Shiro sat up and yawned loudly. Lance grinned as he dug his claws into his father so he didn’t fall off. “Woah, watch the claws!”  
  
“Sorry.” Lance chimed, hopping off of the bigger lion’s back and running to the entrance of the cave, the small tuft of fur on the top of his head flowing in the wind.  
  
“We’ll be back later, Allura.” Shiro smiled and licked the other lion on the cheek. She flicked her tail as if waving goodbye as the large lion padded out after his son.

Lance laughed, looking back at Shiro as he stepped outside. His large, black mane looked extremely messy in the wind. A playful growl rumbled in Shiro’s throat as he followed Lance down Pride Rock.

“Are we gonna go all over?” Lance bounced up and down excitedly as he waited for Shiro.  
  
“No, we won’t go far today.” Shiro looked down at him as he started to pad down the trail to the watering hole. “Just to the watering hole and back.”  
  
“Can I go out with Hunk and Pidge later?” Lance asked, running to catch up with Shiro. His paws looked small compared to the other lion’s and he had to walk much faster to keep walking in step with him.

“As long as Coran goes with you.” Shiro replied, an amused expression on his face as he watched Lance groan.  
  
“But Coran-” He started to argue but stopped, huffing and holding his head low as he padded along the trail.  
  
“He’s there to keep you safe.” Shiro explained gently, stopping beside the water and sitting down. “If he’s with you and you get in trouble then he can come notify Allura and I and we can come help you.”  
  
“I know, I know.” Lance muttered, taking a seat next to the bigger lion. The water lapped at his paws and he shivered, shuffling his paws backwards so they wouldn’t get wet. “But Hunk, Pidge and I can handle ourselves!”  
  
“Lance, there’s still the threat of the Galra Outsiders.” Shiro said, a stern gaze on his face. “They could be plotting an attack against us at any time and they won’t hesitate to attack you if you’re alone.”  
  
“But I thought that Zarkon was dead!” Lance argued, “They’re just a bunch of stupid outsiders now.”  
  
“And they still have the potential to attack us.” Shiro growled, “Haggar and Lotor are still out there, I just want to keep you safe. And that means that until you’re old enough to handle yourself you have to take Coran with you and stay away from the edge of our territory.”  
  
“But that’s so stupid.” Lance snorted, leaning down and lapping up some of the water. The other animals around the watering hole watched as Shiro leaned down next to him.

“I’m doing this to keep you safe.” Shiro said quietly, a rumble sounding from his throat. Lance licked his lips and shot Shiro a sharp glare, turning on his heels and starting to walk back towards Pride Rock.

Shiro narrowed his eyes and leapt after him, picking up the small cub by the scruff. Lance growled and struggled in Shiro’s grasp, swiping his paw and attempting to wriggle himself free.

“Stop struggling.” Shiro instructed. Lance huffed and let himself hang from Shiro’s grasp as they walked back to Pride Rock. “You can still go out with Pidge and Hunk but just make sure that you stay away from the Outlands.”  
  
“I know, dad.” Lance sighed and looked up at Shiro as he set him down on the rock. Shiro nodded and started heading back into the cave to meet up with Allura.

Hunk and Pidge came running up to Lance and he instantly brightened, his usual confident stance and smirk returning. His best friend Hunk was much bigger than him and had a bigger mane, while Pidge was much smaller than both of them and wasn’t nearly as strong as the two bigger lions.  
  
“So where are we going?” Hunk asked excitedly, growling playfully and dropping into a hunter’s crouch. “Maybe we should go hunting and try our hand at getting an antelope.”  
  
“You’re _always_ thinking about food though!” Pidge huffed, smacking him with her tail. “I think we should go explore the elephant graveyard that Shiro told us about.”

“Don’t worry guys, I got it!” Lance smirked, turning and looking out towards the Outlands. “The only downside is that we have to take Coran with us.”  
  
“Are you serious?” Pidge groaned. “I’m sure we can find some way to get rid of him.”  
  
“He’s not gonna let us out of his sights.” Hunk grumbled, “You remember that story that Shiro told us when we were cubs about how he managed to get out of Coran’s sight and ended up getting attacked by hyenas.” Suddenly, Hunk gasped and shuffled his feet together, his tail flicking back and forth. “What if we get attack by hyenas?! Or what if one of those outsiders get us?!”  
  
“Hunk, relax!” Lance said, turning and starting to make his way down Pride Rock. “I’ve got a plan.”  
  
“It better be good.” Pidge huffed, “Your last plan to sneak out went _so_ well when we ended up running right into Allura.”  
  
“It’ll be good, I promise!” Lance began to run into the grass towards the Outlands with Pidge and Hunk running after him. He groaned and came to a stop as he heard Coran’s voice calling him.  
  
“Lance?” Coran swooped down and landed in the grass next to him, looking up at the young lion cub with a disapproving frown. “Your father told me you all wanted to go out and asked that I come with you.”  
  
“Yeah, I know.” Lance huffed, glancing at Pidge and Hunk.

“Good, now off we go!” Coran said enthusiastically. He flapped his wings and took off, watching the lions below him with a content smile. He didn’t look up to see that they were moving closer to the Outlands and instead kept his gaze focused on the three below him. He never really minded watching the cubs because they could be quite fun and mischievous, but at the same time they wouldn't hesitate to "playfully" attack him when given the opportunity.   
  
“So why are we going towards the Outlands?” Hunk asked nervously, “Aren’t these lions like… super dangerous?”  
  
“We’re not gonna meet any of them if we stay out of sight.” Lance replied coolly, “I just want to take a look around and then we can leave.”  
  
“Why are you so interested in the outlanders though?” Pidge asked, “Why can’t we just go explore within the boundaries of the Voltron Pride?”  
  
“Well, Shiro told me this story about Zarkon and how killed King Alfor to take over the throne so that he would be leader instead of Allura.” Lance explained quietly so that he could avoid Coran flying down to tell them another one of his famous stories. Coran was known for going on and on about the stories he had and he would tell the same stories over and over. By now Lance had practically memorized Coran's story about Shiro and Allura's visit to the elephant graveyard. “And then Shiro fought him and he won, and so Haggar and Lotor fled and took refuge in the Outlands and they called themselves ‘The Galra’.”    
  
“Remind me again why I care?” Hunk yawned, holding his head down low as they padded through the thinning grass onto the dirt. His stomach growled loudly as he picked up the scent of a few antelope nearby. “How about we go hunt instead?”  
  
“Hunting is for lionesses!” Lance replied with a groan. Pidge growled and lashed out at him, nicking his shoulder with her claws. “Ow! Sorry, Pidge…”

“Mhm, sure.” She replied nonchalantly, “So if we're actually going to the Outlands how are we gonna get rid of this bright orange dodo?"  
  
“Oh - Remember that one time we got him started on a story?” Hunk asked. Lance and Pidge looked at him in confusion. Hunk sighed, “He went on for ages and ages. If we get him started on a story then I bet he’ll be so distracted that we can just sneak off without him noticing! Come on you guys, keep up for once."  
  
“That’s… Actually not a bad idea.” Pidge murmured. Hunk smiled proudly and they all stopped beside a small pond surrounded by extremely tall grass.  
  
“Hey, Coran?” Lance called, jumping onto a rock and looking up at the bright orange bird that soared above him.  
  
“Yes, Prince Lance?” Coran asked, landing on the lowest branch of the tree that hung over the small pond.  
  
“Will you tell us a story about Zarkon?” Lance asked, his tail swishing back and forth against the cold stone underneath him.  
  
“Yeah, we wanna know about what happened before he took over!” Hunk added, crouching down in the tall grass and wiggling his butt to seem like he was excited to hear Coran's story. He was sure he'd heard this one before a thousand times, but they needed to be sure that Coran would be distracted enough.  
  
“Well, if you’d really like to know…” Coran cleared his throat and raised a wing as he started his story. “King Alfor and Zarkon were actually really good friends when they were cubs, in fact they were inseparable! And then Alfor took over the throne and everything changed.”  
  
Lance glanced at Pidge and Hunk and nodded. They snuck off into the grass silently, keeping low to avoid making noise and being spotted. Lance kept his belly low as he raced through the grass, being careful not to make any loud noises. Pidge followed close behind him, easily keeping low to the ground. Matt had showed her plenty of times how to creep through the grass quickly and quietly, so she considered herself to be an expert at this point. Hunk on the other hand was not nearly as quiet, clumsily following Pidge and Lance as they ran through the grass. Luckily, Coran was still wrapped up in his story and his animated movements that he didn't realize the three lions had left him to talk to himself.  
  
“Once Alfor took over the throne, Zarkon started to disappear with Haggar to the elephant graveyard to start planning on how to kill Alfor and take over the throne.” Coran continued, turning back towards where the lion cubs had previously been. He stopped as he realized they were nowhere to be found. “Prince Lance?” He looked around nervously, calling for each of the cubs. “Pidge? Hunk? Oh, Shiro's going to kill me..." He took flight and began to scan the area around him but he couldn't find anything. He didn't want to stay too long in case they were in trouble, so he began to fly back to Pride Rock to get King Shiro.  
  
  


* * *

 

 

“We totally ditched him!” Pidge cheered, leaping into the air with joy.  
  
“Yeah! Do you think we’ll get in trouble?” Hunk asked, “Like, I bet Shiro is gonna be _really_ mad.”  
  
“What he doesn’t know won’t kill him.” Lance grinned, running forward. The Outlands looked completely different from the Pridelands. The grass was much shorter and darker than the green grass of the Pridelands and it looked like a wasteland. They ran forwards, not realizing that there was a small cliff there. With a yell, they tumbled down the small cliff side. Hunk let out a loud huff as the breath was knocked out of him when he landed. Pidge yelped as she was thrown to the ground, landing roughly on her side. Hunk whined as he stood up, leaping out of the clump of dead bushes he landed in.  
  
“Oh great, there’s burs in my mane!” He reached a paw up, trying to claw the burs out but to no avail.

“Ha!” Pidge laughed and shook her fur out, looking around. “Hey, where’d Lance go?”  
  
“Huh? Lance is gone?” Hunk looked around, forgetting the burs in his small mane. “Oh no, no no no… This is bad, Pidge! We’re stuck in the Outlands and Lance is gone! What if they took him? What if they killed him?”  
  
“Hunk!” Pidge smacked him with a paw, “Calm down, I’m sure he’s fine. We probably just got separated when we fell down that small cliff. We’re like, right next to the Pridelands, all we have to do is climb back up.”

“Can we climb back up?” Hunk looked to the small cliff. The cliff-side looked steep and he really didn’t want to fall back down while trying to claw his way back up.  
  
“We probably should.” Pidge replied, starting to claw her way up the side of the cliff. Dirt fell to the ground as she started to make her way up, eventually reaching the top of the cliff. “Your turn. We can wait for Lance up here, I’m sure he’ll come find us.”  
  
“Fine.” Hunk grumbled, starting to claw his way up. He whimpered nervously as he made his way up slowly, the dirt getting stuck underneath his claws. He hated the feeling of dirt under his claws, but he would have to live with it for now. Eventually he reached the top and attempted to haul himself up. Pidge rolled her eyes and grabbing him by the scruff, helping to haul the much bigger lion onto solid ground. "Thanks Pidge!" He said with a soft chuckle.  
  
“Mhm.” She sat down and curled her tail around her paws, looking out over the dark grounds of the Outlands. Hunk sat down next to her and followed her gaze with a frown on his face. There seemed to be no sign of life, and no sign of Prince Lance.  
  
“Maybe we should go get Shiro.” Hunk looked over at Pidge, who didn’t divert her gaze away from the Outlands.   
  
“He’ll come back.” Pidge assured, “And if he doesn’t we can go find Matt. He’ll help up.”  
  
“What if Coran already went and got Shiro?” Hunk tilted his head to the side, clawing at another bur that was caught in his small mane.  
  
“Then he’ll get Shiro and Matt and they’ll come find us.” Pidge murmured, “Lance will come out of there, don’t worry.”  
  
“Alright. You’ve never lied to me before, Pidge.” Hunk sighed and continued to watch for any sign of movement in the Outlands, but after what felt like ages of waiting, nothing happened and the sun started to go down, creating a cool breeze that chilled the small lions. Pidge groaned and laid down. Of course Lance brought them to the one well-covered spot in the Outlands, making it near impossible to spot a lion from this distance. They continued to wait in silence, hoping that the prince would return.


	2. The Outlands Aren't That Bad

Lance yelped as he tumbled down the cliffside, landing with his muzzle facedown in a small puddle of mud. He scrambled to his paws, shaking his head to get rid of as much mud as he could. He looked back towards the Pridelands and the small cliff he and his friends just tumbled down. 

“Pidge?” He called out loudly, “Hunk?” He frowned when he got no reply. Surely they couldn’t be that far away, right? It was only a short drop and they all fell around the same area so why weren’t they together?   
  
Lance huffed and began to search around for his friends, but he couldn’t pick up any scent. The stench of the Outlands was extremely foul and he didn’t understand how anyone could live here. He kept wandering around and eventually he came across a small lake and decided to stop. His paws were starting to ache from how much walking he’d done that day and the rough ground of the Outlands certainly wasn’t helping. 

He crouched down by the lake and began to study the water before drinking. It was an odd shade of brown instead of the blue water that he had earlier at the watering hole and it looked really unappealing, but he was thirsty so he decided to ignore it. He began to lap up some of the water, instantly regretting his choice. He reeled back and spat, trying to get the foul taste out of his mouth.   
  
“What’s wrong?” A voice growled, causing Lance to spin around and try to pinpoint where the voice came from. “Pridelander can’t handle the water here?”   
  
“I can handle it just fine.” Lance retorted, letting his ears flatten against his head. “And I can handle you just fine if I have to.”   
  
“We’ll see.” The lion replied. He leapt from the bushes and bowled over Lance. The two wrestled for a moment before Lance was beaten. The smaller lion had him pinned to the ground and was digging his claws into Lance’s shoulders, baring his teeth into a snarl. “What are you doing in the Outlands?”   
  
“I just came to explore.” Lance replied nonchalantly, trying his best to ignore the stinging in his shoulders. “Now if you could kindly get off that’d be great. I don’t think my dad would be too happy if he found you on top of me.”   
  
“Who’s your dad?” He asked, loosening his grip. Lance could only just now see his features. He was a small, skinny lion who didn’t look like he’d had a good meal in a long time. The small beginnings of a mane was a black tuft of fur that hung down over his forehead.   
  
“Shiro.” Lance said, kicking his back feet up with enough force to easily throw the lion off of him. He grunted as he landed and Lance got to his feet.   
  
“As in… King Shiro?” The lion asked, his eyes widening in amazement. “You’re the prince?”   
  
“Yup~” Lance chimed, flashing him a grin as he stepped towards him. “The name’s Lance.”   
  
“I’m Keith.” The other lion replied, “And we don’t allow Pridelanders on our territory and especially not the prince. If anyone else finds you here they’ll kill you for sure.”   
  
“That’s why the plan was to not get spotted.” Keith snorted in amusement at his words. Clearly this lion thought he could do whatever he wanted to and that didn’t really go well with the lions in the Outlands.

“Well you did a really nice job with that.” Keith said sarcastically. Lance looked at him with a hurt expression, reaching a paw up to his chest for dramatic effect.    
  
“I was just getting a drink when you came along and decided to attack me! Pretty rude if you ask me.” Lance scoffed, “Enough of this boring talk suff, can we do something fun now?”    
  
“Fun?” Keith asked, tilting his head to the side. He had no idea what Lance was talking about. Growing up in the Outlands meant there was a lot of fighting and power struggle with Zarkon being dead. Most of the time he had to be watched over and given small scraps of food and he wasn’t allowed to do anything. Today was different though. He managed to run away from who was watching him so that he could go out and explore and maybe get a glimpse of the Pridelands.    
  
“Yeah, fun.” Lance eyed him suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you’ve never had fun before.”   
  
“Uh… No, never…” Keith replied, his head dropping down and his shoulders dropping as he hunched over. “There’s no other cubs in the Outlands and I’m not really allowed to do anything.”   
  
“Man, that must suck!” Lance spat, shaking his head as he tried to imagine that kind of life. “Over in the Pridelands we can do whatever we want!”   
  
“Must be nice.” Keith grumbled. “I barely eat and have to have an older lion with me at all times.”   
  
“Well then let’s do something fun. Do you know how to play hide and seek?” Lance asked, dropping into a playful crouch. Keith shook his head, watching him curiously. “Well, one lion hides and the other lion has to try to find them! It’s a lot of fun when there’s actually places to hide.”   
  
“So like, I’d hide in a bush or something?” Keith questioned, still not understanding the point of the game. “What if you find me?”   
  
“Then I win the game.”   
  
“And if you don’t find me?”   
  
“Then I guess you win if I give up.” Lance shrugged, “It’s really simple, how about you hide first?”   
  
“Okay.” Keith agreed. Lance sat down and placed a paw over his eyes and started to count. Keith assumed that this was his cue to start hiding. He looked around for a place to hide, but there really wasn’t too much around. The lake next to them wouldn’t be a good place to hide since it was so open and most of the bushes around them were either dead or dying.

He scrambled to one of the thicker bushes and dove into it, crouching down low and keeping his paws and tail tucked tightly. He had a good view of Lance, who was finishing up counting. Keith was careful not to make noise while Lance was searching in the area, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before he was found.

Keith was thankful that his darker coat blended well with the environment of the Outlands, keeping him relatively well hidden. At one point, Lance had gone right next to the bush that Keith was crouched down in. He gave it a quick look over before moving on to the next. Keith let out a breath of relief and closed his eyes as Lance passed. Suddenly, he felt a lot of weight on his shoulders and he was flattened to the ground.   
  
“Found ya!” Lance chimed, leaping out of the bushes and shaking off his pelt. Keith grumbled, getting up and walking out after him. “Alright, now you try seeking!”   
  
“How do I do that?” Keith questioned.   
  
“It’s easy, you just close your eyes and count to thirty and when you get to thirty then you can come find me.” Lance explained, “But you can’t look to see where I’m going.”   
  
“Okay, I can do that.” Keith sat down and placed his paw over his eyes just like Lance had done before and started to count aloud. Lance looked around, realizing that none of the bushes would provide him enough cover. His lighter fur was relatively easy to spot in the Outlands and the only bush that provided enough cover was the one Keith hid in. 

He decided to hide inside and old log that sat lifelessly by the water. It wasn’t a super obvious spot, but if Keith decided to look inside then that would be it for him. His ears flicked as Keith finished counting and he could hear him begin to search the bushes. He was getting nervous since he couldn’t see where Keith was and the rustling in the bushes stopped. 

He held his breath, worrying that Keith was close and could hear his breathing. He bit his lip as he noticed how many bugs were inside of the log now, crawling all over the sides. He screamed as one climbed on his paw and immediately dove out of the log, colliding with Keith on his way out.   
  
“Guess I don’t need to find you.” Keith smirked, “You’ll just give yourself up.”   
  
“It’s not my fault there’s a bunch of bugs in there!” Lance exclaimed, shaking his fur out to make sure there were no more bugs on him.   
  
“There’s bugs everywhere, what’s the deal?” Keith questioned. “Not like they could kill you or anything.”   
  
“They’re gross and slimy.” Lance declared, “How about we do something else now?”   
  
“Like what?”   
  
“Let’s play tag!” Lance exclaimed. This was one of his favorite games to play with Pidge and Hunk. He could always beat Hunk easily since he would always either give up or get distracted by food. Pidge always managed to outsmart him though. She would dart to one side when he was expecting her to go another way and she was a little bit faster than he was, which really annoyed him but their games were fun nonetheless.   
  
“Tag?” Keith echoed.    
  
“Yeah. One lion is it and the other lions have to run away from that lion. If the lion who’s it tags you then you’re it and you have to tag other lions.” Lance explained. He reached out with a paw and touched Keith on the shoulder before jumping backwards. “Tag!”   
  
Keith got to his feet and began to chase the prince as he ran across the small clearing by the lake. Keith had no trouble catching up to the prince, leaping forward and swiping his paw out and barely touching Lance’s tail. Lance spun around on his feet, a look of disbelief on his face. Keith shot him a grin and turned, taking off running. Lance growled playfully as he gave chase.

Keith looked back behind him and saw Lance gaining on him. He quickly jumped to the left, which threw Lance off. Lance growled softly as he tried to recover. Keith was nearing the edge of the lake and knew that Lance would catch him here if he didn’t do something. He noticed some logs floating in the water and quickly jumped onto the closest one. Lance skidded to a halt as the water lapped at his paws, watching in disbelief as Keith expertly jumped from log to log.    
  
“What’s wrong?” Keith teased, “Don’t want to get your paws wet?”   
  
“Is that a challenge?” Lance asked, a glimmer in his eyes and he prepared to jump. 

“Maybe.” Keith replied, watching Lance with interest to see if he would actually take the risk. Lance wiggled his hips and then jumped, digging his claws into the log to steady himself. He leaped to the second log, leaving one log sitting in the water between him and Keith. He took the jump, but his back paws slipped. He fell clumsily in the water and dug his front claws into the log, kicking his legs frantically as he tried to pull himself up.

He let out a frightened yelp as his claws slipped and he fell into the water, thrashing around wildly. Keith watched with wide eyes as Lance fell, kicking his paws out wildly. He dove into the water after the Prince, swimming expertly and grabbing the bigger lion by the scruff of his neck. Lance was much heavier than he anticipated, but he did his best to drag him to land. Lance had stopped thrashing around now, which made it much easier for Keith to pull him to safety.

Lance started to cough violently when they were finally on land. He sat up and retched, spitting out the water that he swallowed. Keith took a step forward and reached out a paw to offer help, but stopped when another much bigger lion stepped in front of him. He looked up in fear at the bigger lion, immediately recognising him as King Shiro.   
  
“Get away from my son!” Shiro snarled. Keith’s eyes widened as he jumped backwards towards the water. Shiro stood over Lance as he coughed some more. In the back Keith noticed three more lions and a bird. The bigger of the three lions sat glaring at him as he held the two cubs close to him. The two cubs gazed at him curiously and talked between each other. Keith had no idea what to do. Would these Pridelanders really kill him like the stories he was told?   
  
“What were you doing near my son?” Shiro growled, taking a step towards Keith and lowering his head.   
  
“Dad, wait!” Lance called, running forward to stand by Keith. “He saved my life!”   
  
“I told you that you weren’t allowed in the Outlands!” Shiro huffed, turning to look at Lance. “I don’t care what he does, he is an Outlander. He doesn’t belong near Pridelanders.”   
  
“But-!” Lance started to argue, but Shiro gave him that ‘disappointed dad’ look and he knew that arguing would be pointless and probably lead to more trouble. He sighed and lowered his head, walking back to stand behind his dad. Shiro started to turn away from Keith when he heard the raspy voice of another lion.   
  
“Leaving so soon?” The lion smirked as she snaked her way over to Keith, standing beside him defensively.   
  
“Yes.” Shiro snarled, glaring at the old lion. “I’ve just come to retrieve my son, Haggar.”   
  
“Yes but your son was on our territory.” Haggar spat. “You’re lucky that you found him before I did, or else I would’ve had him killed.”   
  
Keith gasped, looking up at the old lion. He had heard the older lions talking about killing Pridelanders but he never thought that it would be true, and he never though he would hear those words being spoken about a cub. Lance flinched backwards, cowering behind Shiro as Haggar stared him down.   
  
“And if I find any of your Outlanders near my son then I will kill them.” Shiro replied with a snarl, glaring down at Keith. Haggar growled at Shiro and picked Keith up by his scruff.   
  
“Get out of our land.” She snarled, turning and stalking off with Keith hanging from her jaws. Lance watched sadly as his new friend was taken away for him to probably never see again. 

  
“Gladly.” Shiro huffed. He leaned down and picked Lance up and turned back to the other lions that were sitting on the edge of the cliff. “Matt, take Pidge and Hunk home. Coran, you go too. I want to have a word with my son alone.”   
  
Matt nodded and got up, urging for the two cubs to get up and follow him. Coran turned and looked to Shiro, who only nodded to him. Coran understood what he meant and began to take flight to go back to Pride Rock to report to Allura what had happened. Lance sighed and let himself hang from Shiro’s jaws as they climbed back to the safety of the Pridelands. He looked back to the Outlands as Shiro carried him away, wondering if he would ever see Keith again.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not super confident in my writing abilities so any constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks!


End file.
